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Musical Instruments

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This site contains materials regarding Instruments in my "Music Room", including articles about the instruments as well as instructions for "How to Play" many of them. This is provided to help in becoming familiar with the WHAT, WHY and HOW of a variety of instruments and to encourage development of basic skills for playing each.

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Some Music Theory
Some Physics of Musical Instruments
Some Basics in Music Acoustics
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Musical Instruments
Temperament
Musical Scales

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• Introduction Video - Members of the United States Army Field Band demonstrate and briefly discuss the instruments of the concert band. Offsets to Instrument Segments: (00:00) Introduction, (00:19) Flute, (01:27) Oboe, (03:22) Clarinet, (05:29) Saxophone, (07:00 Bassoon, (08:26) Trumpet, (10:16) French Horn, (12:47) Trombone, (15:16) Euphonium, (17:03) Tuba, (18:44) Percussion, (20:34) Finale
  Wind Instruments:
• Whistling and the "Hand Flute" - using your mouth and lips or hand and breath as a "musical instrument"
• Whistle and Slide Whistle - devices for producing a single note
• Tin Whistle - or "Penny Whistle", a simple "Irish flute" that produces all 8 notes of the simple diatonic scale
• Flutophone, Song Flute and Precorder - basic learner instruments in elementary schools
• Recorder - another simple "Flute" style instrument with extended range
• Fife - a transverse flute style instrument with extended range
• Flute - a transverse reedless wind blown instrument
• Piccolo - a "half-size" flute
• Pan Pipes - an instrument found in Mythology
• Bagpipes - a woodwind instrument fed from a reservoir of air in the form of a bag
• Shofar - a Horn made from a horn
• Bugle - a non-valved brass wind instrument
• Trumpet and Cornet - these are valved brass wind instruments
• Flugelhorn - a valved brass wind instrument similar to the Trumpet or Cornet
• Mellophone - another valved brass wind instrument pitched an octave lower than the trumpet
• Baritone/Euphonium - valved brass wind instruments pitched an octave lower than the trumpet
• Trombone - a brass wind instrument that uses a "slide" to adjust the pitch
• Kazoo - an instrument for fun play
• Vuvuzela - STADIUM horn - a deafening noisemaker
• Didgeridoo - an Australian wind pipe
• Ocarina - an Ancient wind instrument
• Melodica - a wind instrument with a piano style keyboard.
• Harmonica - a compact, portable wind instrument
  Stringed Instruments:
• Monochord - a single string instrument used by the Greek, Pythagoras, and others to understand the musical properties of the stretched string. (Our Dulcimer can be used to perform a similar function.)
• Dulcimer - a Folk stringed instrument
• Lap Harp - a small stringed instrument styled after the Harp
• Guitar - a popular, portable stringed instrument
• Ukulele - a stringed instrument, similar to the Guitar but with only 4 strings.
• Guitalele - a 6-stringed instrument that is a cross between a Guitar and a Ukulele
• Violin - the classic orchestral instrument
  Keyboard Instruments:
• Melodica - a wind instrument with a piano style keyboard.
• Accordion - a hand-held bellows driven wind instrument with a piano style keyboard.
• Piano - the standard 88-key instrument
• Electronic Keyboard - a modern piano-style instrument that doesn't rely on vibrating strings
  Percussion or Rhythm Instruments: (sound produced by striking or shaking)
• Drums - the most natural of all instruments, especially for young children
• Kalimba - an African instrument sometimes called a "Thumb Piano"
• Glockenspiel - a German instrument similar to a Xylophone
• Musical Spoons - a "percussion" instrument from the kitchen
• Bodhran - The Irish "Frame Drum"
• Idiophones - instruments that produce sounds by vibration of the whole instrument, like "The Frog"

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Click on an instrument name to open either an article describing the instrument or a "menu" of items relating to the instrument. The menu items may be: articles (in pdf format); links to WIKIPEDIA articles; links to "WIKIHOW" for instructions on playing or caring for the instrument; or links to other web sites with related information. (The menu may include a small picture of that instrument in our collection. Clicking on the small picture will open a larger version of the picture.)

If an article comes from Wikipedia then there will be a "WIKIPEDIA" next to the title in the menu. Clicking on that word will open the actual article in wikipedia, allowing you to follow internal links to additional information and avoiding having to download the PDF file.